» Out of my depth

it's a Miracle...
Way back in the 80's my first real girlfriend had convinced me to go to bible study class with her on Wednesday nights. I happily agreed, thinking that I could just hide the fact that I was a total atheist.

My plan worked until one night we watched a video of the "Lady of Medujorge" and all of the pilgrims who had traveled to Yugoslavia to experience this "miracle".

After it was over, instinctively I blurted out "What a load of crap". I then realized that everyone else in the room had been moved and affected by the video in a different way than I had. My remark was met with cold stares.

I was politely, but firmly asked never to come back.
(Tue 19th Oct 2004, 16:06, More)

» Churches, temples and holy places

Never assume
Back in high school the girl I was dating talked me into going to bible study classes with her. During one of the classes we watched a video of "the miracle of medjugorje" which was evidently when an apparition of The Virgin Mary came down to Yugoslavia and talked to some kids. The whole video was this fawning, awful mess and I was not buying any of it.

As the credits were rolling and the study group leader turned the lights on I muttered something like "what a load of bullshit" assuming that the other teens in the room were as cynical and skeptical as myself. I turned around and about half of the people in the room had been moved to tears by what they had been watching.

I was politely asked to leave and not come back.
(Fri 2nd Sep 2011, 17:25, More)

» Unexpected Good Fortune

Being laid off's the best thing that ever happened to me....
I had been working for a medical delivery company in Houston, TX for 4 years. In October 2002, they announced that we were all getting laid off in December so just get ready for it.

It just so happened that the same company had a position open in Pittsburgh, PA and that they could set up an interview for me much closer to home in Dallas, TX. I went to the interview, it was horrible, humilating and just bad but afterwards I went to visit an old high school friend of mine who lived in Dallas.

He let me crash at his house that night. When I work up the next morning, a sign had been hung from the ceiling of the hallway "You Have An Interview At My Company at 11:30." so I got dressed in my same nice interview clothes from the night before, went to the company and got hired on the spot.

My first Christmas bonus was $11,000.
(Fri 15th Sep 2006, 20:49, More)

» Evidence that you're getting old

The first symptom...
..was when I started to dislike teenagers.

I can't stand to watch MTV at all.

I think the best music was made in the late 80's-early 90's.

Top 40 music is largely garbage.

I don't understand hip-hop at all.

A girl in my office didn't know who Milli Vanilli were or why they were famous.

I am worried about cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, etc.

My little sister is creeping up on 30 years old.
(Thu 28th Oct 2004, 17:57, More)

» Winning

Back when MTV was cool...
...and I mean like 1986, my local cable company ran a promotion to win some stuff just by sending in postcards to them. There was no mention in the commercials what you would actually win, but for some reason I went down to the post office and filled out 5 postcards at 19 cents each, sent them in, and promptly forgot about them.

Several weeks later I got a box in the mail. I wasn't expecting anything which made it pretty exciting. Turns out I won the contest, my prize was a deluxe black satin MTV jacket with the big MTV logo embroidered on the back. My 16 year old self almost died, it was absolutely the coolest piece of clothing I had ever owned. I wore it to school every day that I possibly could and what was better, other people actually commented on how cool it was. I was the only person in my entire city of 93,000 to have a jacket like that and I've never owned anything like it again.

I passed it along to my sister and she wore it through high school as well...it still hangs in a closet at my mom's house.
(Fri 29th Apr 2011, 16:00, More)